Fragrant Gardening: Mock Orange...to be or not to be...

Highly Fragrant, that is. I know we were talking about the Mock Oranges a year or more ago...I'm going to revive the discussion with a different question. What vendor have you all found or can refer me to that carries the heirloom old timely variety that highly scented? Ah heck...I don't care what variety...but I know a dear friend of mine had some growing that had been there forever and the scent was amazing! My Bluestone Mock Orange just finished a flush and I have to tell you...I simply didn't catch any scent this year regardless the time of day. I've had it a few years now and am very disappointed. Anyone with any suggestions?

I have the same problem, but my mock oranges were from a different nursery. I am going to have to find a good nursery, too. I would like to root my own from a known fragrant one and see if that makes a difference. Luciee

The mock oranges in my yard are probable well over 100 years old and have a lovely scent. I have sucessfully rooted a few in potting mix but I found them to be a little fussy. Take several cuttings and give it a shot. Over all these years they have become pretty raggety looking but the scent is devine.

The mock orange you are looking for is Philadelphus virginalis, is the most fragrant of all varieties of mock oranange. That is a reacurring problems with modern breeding programs, Most are breeding for bigger blooms, new colors,dwarfing. Only in the last few decades have some of the breeders acknowledged the lack of fragrances and are now breeding for such, (tho not nearly enough) Just ordered 22 mock orange v. and got pkg, found out they subbed Wegeila for mock, needless to say I told them had to have my mock oranges. I am landscaping my backyard this summer and am including as many fragrant flowering tree, shrubs and flowers as possible. Last time I smelled a wegeila there was no fragrance at all,(lol). Said they will ship late summer when they get more, phew!!!!

Hi, I wanted to share my experience. I noticed a huge Mock Orange that is as tall as the power lines and it smelled wonderful and had a Tiger Swallowtail on it. A friend of mine has no problem driving around and digging up plants she wants from the side of the road and ripped out an off shoot with some roots. I planted it not knowing if it would survive but it did. So last year it had a few flowers and I did not notice any scent.. This year it was loaded with flowers but I couldn't notice the smell unless I picked a flower and sniffed it. My thought on it is that the weather has not been right for the fragrance to be very noticeable. Right now I have a tree which we call a Bean Tree. Not sure what it's botanical name is, however that tree's fragrance was very noticeable yesterday but I had never noticed it was fragrant before. Another thing I'm thinking is it could take a very lot of blooms to get that heavy fragrance in the air. Perhaps ours are just too small still.